Everybody Hurts
by Malana
Summary: X-Over with The West Wing. Willow/Josh. Part of the REM Song Title Series *Complete*


Title: "Everybody Hurts"

Series: R.E.M. title series

X-over with West Wing

Pairing:Willow/Josh Angst Character death

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine. Willow is Whedon's and Josh is Sorkin's

Distribution: Please, take it. Just let me know.

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Futurefic.

A/N: I'm doing a series of Willow stories based on titles of R.E.M. songs. They don't fit together. They will all be x-over's with some different shows. If you have any shows/pairings you'd like to see me do, tell me. I'd love to have suggestions.

Willow had always associated death with the Hellmouth. Even after JoyceÕs death, which was completely unconnected to any demon activity, Willow had thought this way. She had thought outside of vampire or demon attacks, she didn't have to worry about losing her friends. She shouldn't have been so naive.

When Willow had lost Tara three years ago, she went mad. She tried to destroy the world. That didn't happen this time. Willow hadn't even done any magic in the past two years. She hadn't done any spells since she and her friends conquered the first and permanently closed the Hellmouth. She hadn't had to.

No, the second time she lost someone she loved with all of her heart, she hadn't gone evil. Of course, she had spent the month after his death in a coma. She had woken up, no idea of how much time had passed, and asked for him. That's when the doctors brought Sam into her hospital room. So she had asked him what was going on. She knew at the look in his eyes that something was wrong.

Will told her everything. That she had been in a terrible car accident. That for the past month, she had been in a coma. And then came the worst news: the car accident that had caused her coma had claimed her fiancŽ's life.

Six months had passed, but she could still remember the exact look in Sam's eyes, the exact tone in his voice when he had told her. "I'm so sorry, Willow. The car accident, Josh didn't make it. Josh is dead, Willow. I'm so sorry."

Three months had passed since the day she learned of Josh's death. Today was supposed to be the day they were married. Instead of standing with him, in front of friends and family, pledging their love for one another, Willow now stood in front of his grave.

"Hey, baby." Willow spoke softly. "I know I haven't been here for a little while, but Sam told me that I shouldn't come here every week; that you wouldn't want me to torture myself like this. He told me that he were really worried, that I had lost too much weight, and that I was looking even paler than usual. He told me that you'd want me to be taking better care of myself.

"But today I had to come. I miss you so much, Josh. Today was supposed to be our day. It was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives. All I can think about lately is the day that we met.

*Two Years Earlier*

Willow had never thought she would be here, and if the hellmouth hadn't been closed, she wouldn't be. But now she was here, working for Sam Seaborn's congressional campaign. It was a lot of hard work, and even Willow, with all of her optimism, had to admit that Sam wasn't going to win. But tonight was still great. The election was only few weeks away, and the President, along with much of the senior staff, had come to Orange County to throw support behind the former Deputy Director of Communications.

Willow smiled as she looked around the reception hall. Everyone, including herself, was dressed to the nines. She hadn't met the President yet, but Sam had promised that he would introduce her at some point.

Willow was at the bar when she saw Sam approaching her with another man beside him. She recognized him immediately. He was Josh Lyman, the Deputy Chief of Staff. She had seen him in pictures, and on television, but that didn't do him justice. He was handsome, and even from a distance she could see the charming boyish grin on his face.

Sam introduced them, and the two hit it off right away. Josh had a certain arrogance about him, but for some reason it didn't bother Willow. It was just one more thing that she found endearing about him. They spent the whole night talking and flirting. But they both knew that Josh would be flying back to Washington the next day. The night had ended with a passionate kiss, before Willow got in a cab to go back to her apartment. She had had a great time, and was disappointed that it was over.

Then the remarkable had happened. Sam won the election. He was now Congressman Seaborn, and he asked Willow to come to D.C. to work for him. Saying good-bye to her friends in Sunnydale had been hard, but she wasn't going to turn down such a wonderful opportunity.

Almost immediately Willow reconnected with Josh. It wasn't long before they were officially dating. There was some mild scandal when the press first found out, but there was nothing major. The two had quickly fallen in love, and then Josh had asked Willow to marry him. She had happily agreed.

Then, four months ago, Willow and Josh had gotten in his car. They were on the way to dinner to celebrate. Josh had pretty much single-handedly gotten a bill through Congress, and was positively giddy. Willow was proud of Josh, and excited for him. She knew how hard he had worked for this. He was bragging about his latest accomplishment, and Willow was laughing gently at him.

Neither of them noticed the car head towards them, until it was too late. Josh tried to swerve, but to know avail. The collided with the other car full speed. That was the last thing that Willow remembered. The next thing she knew she was waking up in the hospital and everything had changed. Sam had filled her in on some of the details. Apparently the other driver had been drunk. She had died a few hours after the accident in the hospital.

**********

Willow knelt by Josh's grave. She pulled a small stone out of her pocket and put it on top of his headstone, beside all the others that she had placed there during the months since his death. Tears streamed down her face.

"Everybody still misses you so much, Sweetie. Donna's working in C.J.'s office now. She and Sam are kind of seeing each other. I know that'd make you happy. Toby and Andi are still arguing all the time, but you can tell they really love each other. The twins are healthy. You'll be glad to know that fatherhood hasn't changed the Toby's gruffness too much. Leo finally broke down and hired someone to take your old job. The White House staff is trying really hard not to resent him, but sometimes I don't think they do a very good job of it.

I'm started work again last week. Sam said he was glad to have me back, and I'm glad to be there. You'd be so proud of him, Josh. He really is a wonderful politician, and I'll tell you a secret: I think he's going to be President some day. I don't tell him that, because I don't want him to get a big head.

I never thought I would have two great loves in my lifetime. And I certainly never thought that if I did, I'd lose them both much too soon. I don't know what I'm going to do without you. It should be getting easier as time passes, but it seems like it's just getting worse. My friends and I saved the world quite a few times, and we saved lots of lives. I don't understand why I couldn't save yours.

I miss you so much, Joshua. It hurts a lot. I'm sad, and I'm angry. But mostly I just love you. I'm so glad that I had the time with you that I did. I'm so glad that I got to bask in your love for two years. But I really miss you, and I don't think that's ever going to change."


End file.
